Piano



E. F. STORY Feb. 12, 1935.

PIANO Filed July 10, 19153 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 .17 am! KSZO E. F. STORYFeb. 12, 1935.

PIANO Filed July 10, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. F. STORY 9 PIANO FiledJuly 10, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 E. F. STORY Feb. 12, 1935.

PIANO Filed July 10, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 & mp

Patented Feb. 12, 1935 PATENT OFFICE PIANO Edward 1'. Story, Chicago,111., assignmto Story &

Clark Piano Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of DelawareApplication July 10, 1938. Serial No. 679,727

8 Claims.

This invention relates to pianos, and more particularly to uprightpianos, although some of the features of the invention may be used ingrand pianos. I

Generally stated, the oblect of the invention is to provide a novel andimproved construction whereby the use of wood and cast-iron for certainthings is obviated, more or less, and whereby it is made practical toemploy pressed sheet steel in place thereof, thereby to reduce theweight and cost of production of pianos, and at the same time to insuregood tone and appearance.

It is also an object to provide certain novel features of constructionand combinations tendlngto increase the general efllciency anddesirebility of pressed sheet steel pianos of this character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists inmatters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an and elevation of an upright pianoembodying the principles of the hiventlon, with the rear portion shownin vertical section.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail or fragmentary section on line 2-4 in Fig.3 of the drawings.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the string-plate and sounding board ofsaid piano, on a smaller scale, being a vertical section on line 3-3 inFig. 1 of the drawings. n

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the piano on the same scale as 3 of thedrawings Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on line 55 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 66 in Fig. 3 withportions broken away for convenience of illustration.

Fig. '7 is a similar section on line 7'l in Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged section on line 8-8 in 3 of the drawings.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a pressed sheet metal steelback 1, rectangular in outline, and formed with'rear or outside flanges2 along its four edges, through which screws 3 are inserted into thecasing 4 of the piano. Said steel back is preferably formed withvertical hollow ribs 5 that stiffen the back 1. Rectangular openings 6are provided between said ribs.

Against the back 1 are placed the upper pin plank '7 and the lower orbase plank 8, and against the planks is placed the sounding board 9having the oblique ribs 10 on the rear side thereof,- the planl; 8 beingpreferably first glued to the sounding board. I The steel string plate11 is rectangular except for the curved edge 12, and is formed with edgeflanges 13 that are fastened by screws 14 to the casing 4 of the piano.Also, the annular edge 15 detracts from the rectangular form of thesteel string-plate, and the latter is also formed with flanged openings16 and 17 and 18, as shown. The tuning pins 19 are inserted through theplate 11 and the sounding board 9 into the pin plank 7, and the stringsextend over the angle irons 20 and 21 to the anchor or hitch plates 22and 23 on the steel plate 1, while bridges 24 and 25 for said stringsare secured as shown to the face of the sounding board.

Bolts 26 secure the steel back 1 and the sounding board 9 and the frontplate 11 together. Also, the horizontal row of bolts 27 extends throughthe steel back and front plate, through the sounding board, and throughthe pin plank 7, whereby these elements are all solidly bolted together.

Thus the sounding board structure has a pressed steel front plate and apressed steel back, and the edges of said steel plates are fastened tothe piano casing in the manner shown, the sounding board having brackets28 where the front plate is not secured to the casing. Preferably,box-like stiffening ribs 29 and 30 are provided on the front of thesteel front plate 11, and with this construction the rectangularsounding board structure, with its strings and two steel plates, is verystrong and stiff and highly resilient and resonant. Moreover, the partsthereof are removably or separably bolted together, instead of beingglued or otherwise permanently united, and the board and plate and plankcan be easily taken apart for the purpose of repair or substitution. Forexample, if the sounding board should become cracked or warped, it caneasily be taken out and a new one can be put in its place. By removingthe screws 3 and 14 the entire structure can be taken out as a unit.

The whole unit is strong, but comparatively light, and in addition thecost of production is comparatively low, as the steel front and backplates are susceptible of standardization and do not need any machine orhand work to finish them. And, as no gluing is employed to hold the backand planks and sounding board together, the structure is lesssusceptible to moisture.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the sheet metal back 1 is formedof a single piece of sheet metal, preferably sheet steel, and that it isall in one integral piece. The sheet steel string plate 11 is formedwith the recesses 12 and 15 at the opposite sides of the plate, so thatthe soundlng board is not unduly covered or muffled. and

the openings shown in the string plate serve further to release thesound vibrations so that the full and proper quality of the soundingboard is obtained. Both steel plates are preferably flanged at theirupper and lower and side edges, as shown, for the purpose shown anddescribed. It is obvious, moreover, that the portion 21 may be anintegral portion of the string plate 11 simply punched and turnedoutwardly, instead of the separate angle iron shown and described. Thisis also true of the portion 22, as here again the hitch pins for thestrings may be fixed to an integral portion of the string plate 11,punched and bent outwardly, forming; an integral flange in-.

stead of the hollow rib 22 shown and described;

t is also obvious that the sheet steel back 1 may be formed withsuitable openings of anysuitable shape, instead of the opening 6, andthatithis steel back may be strengthened or stiffened and described isillustrative of one form of .the

invention.

'Looking at Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that the'two sets ofstrings are arranged as usual, crosswise of each other, in the mannershown and described. Ordinarily, in running the scale on a piano havingstrings thus arranged, there is a break in the quality of the tone, inrunning the scale from one set of strings to the other set of strings.However, with the new construction shown and described, involving theone-piece sheet steel back, and the steel string plateshown anddescribed, with the sounding board bolted between the two steel plates,it is found that practically no break in the quality of tone occurs inrunning the scale from one set ofstrings to the other set of strings.With the ordinary piano, with the stringsfarranged in this conventionalmanner, the two sets of strings are in quality of tone somewhat like twodifferent pianos, for while they correctly represent the notes of thechromatic scale, the quality of tone in one set of strings isrecognizable as being different from the quality of tone of the otherset of strings. But with the novel construction shown and described,involving the two steel plates and the sounding board clamped betweenthem, this inequality of and the steel string-plate and the soundingboard with the string-plate provided with circumscribed openings, andalso with lateral notches or recesses exposing the sounding board in thedesired manner, are bolted together to form a unit which is attached bythe rear flanges 2 and the front flanges 13 to the casing of the piano.Thus the piano can be shipped knocked-down, so to speak,

and can be easily assembled when received.

Again, the steel construction thus provided is vertical rows adjacentthe vertical side flanges of said back.

practically moisture-proof, and there is less danger of warping of thesounding board unit from that cause.

It will be seen that the nuts on the bolts 26 and 27 engage the wall oftheback 1 of the piano, and that these nuts, as well as the screws 3,are accessible from the rear of the piano, so that the back can beremoved separately, should occasion so require. The horizontal elements'7 and 8, shown in Fig. 1, together with the similar elements 31 shownengaging the bolts 26 in Fig. 7 of the drawings, between the back 1 andthe sounding board 9, form a frame-like structure,

between the steel back and the steel string plate,

with the sounding board clamped between this frame-like structure andthe string plate, the latter being spaced from the sounding board by thespacer strips 32 extending along the four edges of the sounding board,in the manner shown and described.

What I claim as'my invention is:

I 1. In a piano having an outer casing, an organized unit thereforcomprising an upright framelike structure having a tuning pin plankforming the upper portion thereof, a sounding board of "less height thansaid structure and disposed on the front side thereof, a one-piece sheetsteel back engaging the rear side of said structure and formed withrearwardly extending flanges at the upper and lower and side edgesthereof, means accessible from the rear of the piano for attaching saidflanges to said casing, a sheet steel string plate engaging the front ofsaid pin plank and formed with forwardly extending flanges at the upperand lower and side edges thereof,

"means accessible from the front of the piano for 2. A structure asspecified in claim 1, said-back V tension.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said string plate having its topflange continuous and unbroken for the full lengththereof, and havingits side edges formed with flanged recesses to expose the soundingboard, so that the flange for the lower edge of the string plate is oflesslength than the upper flange thereof.

4. A structure as specified'in claim 1, some of said bolts beingdisposed in horizontal rows adjacent the top and bottom flanges of theback,

and other bolts being disposed in a horizontal row adjacent the upperedge ofthe sounding board, and adjacent the lower edge of said pinplank, and some of said bolt being disposed in flanges'and meansaccessible from-the rear of the piano for securing said flanges to thetop and bottom and side walls of the piano casing, whereby saidone-piece sheet of steel thus fastened in place forms the entire back oithe piano and is separately removable from the rear of the casing.

'7. In a piano having a casing, a unitary back and tuning pin plank andsounding board and string plate unit,insertable in and removable fromthe piano as a unitary structure, said string plate being of sheet steeland having topand bottom and side flanges on the front thereofdetachably secured to the upper and lower and side walls of the casing,serving to hold the unit in place, and said string plate thus formedhaving its side edges formed with flanged recesses to expose thesounding board, so that the bottom flange oi the plate does not extendthe full width of the latter, as does the upper flange of the plate,whereby the side flanges of the plate that are attached to the casingextend downwardly a distance from the upper edge of the plate andterminate above said recesses, but are integral with the flanges of thelatter.

8. A structure as specified in claim 6, said back having verticallydisposed channel portions alternating with vertically disposed openingsbetween them, whereby the back is stiffened from top to bottom to resistthe buckling strain imposed by the tension of the piano strings.

EDWARD F. STORY.

